Our
People

Chris is Chief Executive of Pennon Group Plc, a leading UK environmental infrastructure company covering the water and waste management sectors.

Chris has extensive experience of the regulated business environment and has a comprehensive understanding of the water industry, serving on the Boards of Water UK, British Water and the Institute of Water. Chris was previously a Trustee of the international charity, WaterAid and was also a senior diplomat in Japan.

Andrea is the co-founder of Blue Topaz Capital, an advisory service that targets integrated financial, environmental, and social performance markets, including financial markets in Africa and Asia.

She is a Board Member at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Member of the Investment Committee at the Lankelly Chase Foundation.

Hakeem Ogunniran, a Lawyer, Chartered Governance Practitioner and Arbitrator, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eximia Realty Co Ltd. Mr Ogunniran possesses extensive knowledge and experience in property development, investment, fund raising and housing finance.  He is a recognized expert on housing development and infrastructure related issues in Africa.

He is also the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Lagos Building Investment Co Plc. He was at various times a Law Lecturer (University of Lagos) Company Secretary Legal Adviser and Chief Executive Officer of two major organisations including UACN Property Development Company Plc. He was named one of the Top 20 CEOs on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2013

Dr. Sana Malik is a proven professional and academician with diverse teaching and research experience. Dr. Malik has initiated collaborative initiatives for housing research and conducted knowledge sessions on national and international platforms. As a policy expert, she has also served as a short-term consultant with World Bank for a housing finance project.

Paul is currently the Chief Executive of Optivo, one of the largest housing associations in the UK. He is also Honorary Professor at UCL, Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management.

A former Board Member of Gallions Housing Association, Paul has over 20 years’ experience in the affordable housing sector in the UK, as well as in governance and organisational leadership.

Diana is Professor of Global Urbanism, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, and the Principal Researcher, Human Settlements Group, IIED.

A former Chair of Homeless International, and a current Trustee of the Inqolobane, she has extensive experience academically and strategically, as well as in governance roles, within the urban housing and development sector in the Global South.

Ranil is currently the Global Director of Finance for Save the Children International. He is also a board trustee for South West London Law Centers and Oaktree Australia.

Ranil is a certified practicing accountant and a senior finance executive with over 20 years’ experience in the commercial, chartered accounting and NGO sectors. After moving to an NGO role in Australia in 2014, he spent 3 years in a field-based role as the Regional Finance and Support Services Director for East and Southern Africa.

Currently the Chief Financial Officer of Optivo, Sarah started her career as an external auditor with BDO Stoy Hayward, before specialising in social housing.

Sarah is the Vice Chair of the NHF’s SORP Working Party and sits on the ICAEW social housing sub-committee. She retired from the Board of Lewisham Homes in October 2019 having served for 10 years, where she also chaired the Audit & Risk Committee. Sarah now sits on the Board of Dolphin Square Foundation.

Now retired, Steve worked for nearly four decades in international banking across Asia-Pacific, South America, Europe and the Middle East, a career that culminated in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Barwa Bank, an award-winning Islamic financial institution based in Qatar.

Dhaval is a Senior Fellow at IDFC Foundation (now Artha Global) and Director of Affordable Housing at Anant National University. His work at Artha focuses on housing policy, financial inclusion and urban sustainability. He has set up the department of Affordable Housing at AnantU, India’s first design university. Previously he was the co-founder of First Home Realty Solutions, an affordable housing company that was a pioneer in the affordable housing space in India. FHRS worked on solutions in various capacities across South East Asia and Africa.

He sits on International Advisory Board of the Terwilliger Centre for Innovation in Shelter, Habitat for Humanity International and the Finance Committee of the Mahatma Phule Renewable Energy & Infrastructure Technology Limited.

Ian has been working at the interface between private sector effectiveness and public good for over 25 years.

Ian spent 16 years at the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) where he progressed to Head of Private Sector Development managing a multi-billion $ impact investment portfolio. Ian was Chief Strategy Officer for Crown Agents before joining Reall as CEO in 2018. Ian was named in a list of ‘Top 20 Dynamic CEOs of 2020’ by The CEO Publication, was named Cause4’s Social Entrepreneur of the Month, August 2021 and a Meaningful Business 100 winner in 2022.

Ian has lived and worked in numerous countries across Africa and Asia. He now resides in London with his wife and two teenage children.

Lucy has over 16 years’ experience in international urban development, sustainable cities and affordable housing, and has spent over a decade of her career at Reall.

She played a key role in shaping Reall’s evolution from grant-giving NGO to commercial, market-focused innovator and investor.

As Policy and External Affairs Director, Lucy is responsible for positioning Reall as a global thought-leader, crowding in actors and resources, addressing market barriers and catalysing climate-smart housing markets that work for people on low-incomes. This includes the first publicly-accessible data dashboard sharing market intelligence and data on Reall’s housing investments, pioneering research and innovations in the climate, fintech and proptech space and strategic collaborations with players such as the UN.

Patrick is a CIMA qualified accountant with extensive experience in financial management, investment and international development, with a particular focus on impact investing in emerging markets.

A multi-linguist investment professional, he started his career in finance at British Telecom in 1998. Over the following decade, he worked for a real estate consultancy firm, in investment banking at JPMorgan and RBS. He also helped setup a micro finance bank in DR Congo in 2009.

Noel is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with over 25 years of extensive leadership experience in financial management, audit, business planning, company secretarial and treasury.

Noel’s most recent position was as Director of Finance at Birmingham’s YMCA, whose mission is to work with the homeless and disadvantaged groups. As part of the leadership team, he implemented the organisation’s transition to becoming a self-sustaining, property-owning social enterprise backed by funders and grant-making bodies.

Laura’s career has spanned 15 years of work in the Humanitarian shelter and low-income housing sectors, working with partners across South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Her work has focused on resilience, risk reduction and more recently on sustainability of housing and shelter, for organisations such has Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

As Head of Operations at Reall, Laura’s role focusses on partnering with pioneering organisations with unique solutions to the delivery of affordable housing across the Asia region, not only delivering homes but working with the wider ecosystem of finances, technology and policy to promote a wider environment that enables a scale-up.

Louisa joined Reall in 2020 as Head of Operations for Africa. Prior to this Louisa worked for the British Council in Africa for 32 years, progressing to Programme and Country Director positions in multiple contexts. Her international postings include tenures in Botswana, Malawi, Nigeria, Oman, Sierra Leone, Slovakia and Zimbabwe.

Louisa holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management and a Masters Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies.

Donovan heads the Global Policy and Influence team, leveraging key stakeholders to bring about changes which transform global affordable housing markets and create synergies between affordable and climate-smart housing.

Donovan has previously worked as Deputy Director and Urban Lead – Green Cities, at the Global Green Growth Institute, Seoul, and with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in Bangkok; first as Chief of Social Policy and Population and then as Chief of the Sustainable Urban Development Section.

Donovan has a PhD in International Development and postgraduate qualifications in Public International Law. He is a member of ISOCARP, The Planning Institute of Australia and the British Institute for Comparative and International Law.

Ged has worked in communications for almost 30 years, having originally trained as a journalist and worked for a local paper in the Northeast of England. He switched to charity communications early on in his career, inspired by a postgraduate volunteer year in Liberia, a country that is still close to his heart.

Ged has worked in five different roles for CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) and has managed communications teams in three different organisations. He has gathered content in a dozen countries in Africa and Latin America, including a three-year stint for Mary’s Meals in Liberia. He is also a passionate activist in the world of football for development.

At Reall, Ged’s aim is to reach key audiences with human stories about our innovative work and many varied collaborations. He is a determined advocate of the power of inspirational storytelling that informs, motivates and educates.

Karen has had over 20 years’ experience working in industry before coming to Reall. During that time, she built a business from nothing, with other fellow shareholders, and sold it for several million to a PLC. Karen wanted to bring some of this entrepreneurial experience to Reall.  A large part of her role is centered around providing financial clarity about the impact of Reall’s strategies, enabling financial modelling & budgeting to play a pivotal part in decision making at Reall. She also ensures we are financially compliant with both funders & legislators.

Josh joined Reall in 2015 as a Legal Programme Coordinator and now leads Reall’s Transitions unit. Josh works with partners and stakeholders on a range of projects and relationships, ensuring that projects, investments and relationships are in the best position to deliver impact and value to Reall’s mission.

Previously studying Law, Josh has also worked in fundraising and programme development for a number of other UK and international charities, in international development, health and social care, and youth programmes.

With over 14 years working in HR, Craig is a dynamic and commercially focused senior manager who has delivered cross-sector impact and demonstrated an innate adaptability to meet new business priorities and goals.

Craig is committed to delivering a high quality HR service to meet demand, and has built extensive talent in leadership, change management and employee relations.